The most helpful favorable review

The most helpful critical review

79 of 84 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars2013 new monitor, bought for multiscreen, compare with ASUS
This is an initial review, I will update later with a more thorough review of the picture quality. I'm an engineer, so I'm technologically savvy and very picky, but not well versed in monitor picture quality metrics, so I will run some tests on a later date. I think it's important to state that I am planning to use this monitor for a multiscreen solution, so a thin bezel...

2.0 out of 5 starsGreat, for a while.
I purchased two of these monitors on April 3rd, 2013. I was using them side to side with my set up. For the first few months the monitors were great and I had no issues with them however about 5 months after having them my right monitor started having burn in issues with very visible horizontal waves going through it. When I noticed this I tried to contact Acer about a...

This is an initial review, I will update later with a more thorough review of the picture quality. I'm an engineer, so I'm technologically savvy and very picky, but not well versed in monitor picture quality metrics, so I will run some tests on a later date. I think it's important to state that I am planning to use this monitor for a multiscreen solution, so a thin bezel was a factor in my purchase. If you plan to line up more than one of these side by side, you would have noticed this model and perhaps the ASUS VN247H-P for their relatively thinner bezels. There isn't a whole lot of information out for these two monitors, because they both came out just this year about a month ago, so maybe you can take advantage of the research I did. When I bought this monitor the ASUS model had free shipping and a discount making it $20 cheaper, but at the time of writing that discount is gone and the monitor is actually $10 more compared to this one. I'm guessing because that monitor is very popular as well.

This monitor is amazingly sleek, imagine a 1.5 cm thick slice of glass and metal, and all the connectors barely protrude out the back. The packaging it came in was two slabs of styrofoam with seemingly not much space in between, where the monitor was sandwiched. I was surprised because this monitor is actually frameless, and that was not stated in the description, which is obviously great. A comparable model with a frameless design is the ASUS MX239H, also out recently, but that one retails for $230. I really think Acer outdid itself here, but their marketing is just not as ostentatious about their product as ASUS. Why do I say that? Besides the design of this monitor matching the $230 counterpart of ASUS, this monitor is IPS! while the earlier ASUS model I mentioned (now selling for $190) is only TN! AND the stand of that monitor has received complaints to be flimsy. Not here, this stand is solid and it is METAL, not plastic! A $700 monitor I bought a few years back from Samsung didn't even have this! I doubt the ASUS counterpart does either. This is in every way a $230+ product if I use ASUS as a benchmark, which of course is legitimate as ASUS is revered as the more reliable and quality brand. This is a steal.

Part of why I leaned towards the Acer because there is another reviewer, much better informed than myself regarding picture quality that reviewed about half a dozen of these screens, and gave ASUS a fairly low rating in general and said the one bright spot was another Acer he got. Regarding the IPS, I can have this screen dead perpendicular to my face and still make out the picture, it's that ridiculous. Not that you ever need to watch movies that way but if that's your thing, your time has come. IPS sells at a premium to TN so this is a great feature over the ASUS. On arrival, there are no stuck or dead pixels that I can see yet, I will check again more throughly later. One word of caution, although frameless, the screen is not borderless. Like the $230 ASUS model, the border just sits under the glass, I will update with the exact width later, but I'm guessing it's 1.5 cm. I think the fact that Acer is sort of an underdog to ASUS and has less marketing forces it to price its products more aggressively so this is definitely great value for a beautiful piece of hardware.

Another thing regarding Amazon, their customer service is phenomenal. The monitor was shipped to an old address of mine. My orders default to that address from 5 years ago, and presumably I did not click my new address or it did not register. Either way, when I called, Erin H from customer service did not give me any hassle, did not charge extra shipping, and actually shipped me another unit immediately! She even put in 2-day shipping! This is unreal. So they basically took the risk of losing or breaking that other monitor and just gave me a brand new different unit at no charge with faster shipping. The unit came the next day. I honestly cannot think of a way their service can be improved. I hope Erin gets a raise.

All in all, I'm glad I went through Amazon. My alternative was newegg, and nothing against them, I'm just saying Amazon is great. The monitor is spectacular. I will update later with some picture tests and metrics. I have not tweaked anything not downloaded any color drivers/enhancers as some ASUS monitor reviewers suggest as crucial for their models.

Pros:-Gloss screen, seems like glass(good quality)-Great Back lighting! more than enough....had to turn it down-Interface to adjust things is EASY to use...learned it in 1-2min-Best bezel I've ever seen on a monitor seriously...i'm tired of seeing monitors with horrible flashy glossy bezels, this is how its done right-the monitor's stand is GREAT and doesn't shake as much as other monitors....looks simple and gets the job done...i love it because it doesn't look flashy and plastic-y...its very elegant-IPS panel, great viewing angles and color-DVI INPUT I'm listing that as a Pro because I'm starting to see monitors without DVI and only hdmi/VGA-All cables included! including a vga cable....I feel sorry for you if you're using a vga cable, no offense.-No dead pixel! yay!-PRICE, very good for what you get (currently 180$)-surround 3 Monitor Gaming? look no further, this is it. btw i'm jealous if you are surround gaming with 3 of these Beauties.

Cons:None, unless you dislike glossy screens....or if you like TN panels better

Other thoughts:-I bought this monitor because its a glossy monitor, why?, because I like my blacks not to be gray and text to be crystal clear.-I always hear people complaining about gloss, they obviously don't care about color accuracy (I cant stand matte finishes personally)-This monitor actually matches with my Corsair 650D pretty well.-This panel is PERFECT for artists and photo editors.-I feel that there needs to be more online reviews and pictures of this monitor online.-This monitor seems to blow away all the other monitors at its price point currently.

For the first month and a half of owning the device, this monitor was great; looked nice by design, ips panel had great colors and viewing angles, etc. After that segment of time passed my monitor just seemed to start dying.

The end result was half the screen looking dim and colors being off as well as horizontal scan lines visible going down the screen. With that, the red sub-pixels of every other horizontal line of pixels seems to be stuck(or really slow); anything solid red shows up as striped and while a dark background is present, you can see a red shadow of what used to be on the screen.

The problems are strictly hardware related, they are present regardless of the computer, the input, and the monitor settings and config.

I filled out the Acer RMA form online and have been waiting for someone for a reply (as of September 24th, I'm still waiting).

So yeah, this sucks. I cant be too harsh on them because faults happen but needless to say, my faith in Acer has started to waiver.

Update1: I got the monitor back from them about 10 business days later (not bad for RMA turn around) and am very happy with the work they did on it. The monitor came back looking new as they had handled it very well and also replaced the entire lcd panel/glass assembly. The note they included also said that they had run the monitor for 17 hours to ensure that the issue is no longer present. Changing rating to 4 stars (one off for lcd fault/issue)

I was a little reluctant to order a monitor with no reviews, but as I was returning the 23-inch Acer of the same line, I was hopeful that it would be of the same quality as the one I was swapping(too small).

Turned out I made the right decision and after over a month of usage, I am extremely happy with this monitor. I use it mainly for movies and some games and have had absolutely no issues thus far and am thoroughly pleased with this purchase.

UPDATE: I am very happy to say that after a year of use I am still just as happy with this monitor. I even made it my primary PC monitor about a month ago and could not be happier!

This monitor is large, bright and has great picture. I'm very happy with the performance of this guy, and it does a good job being a monitor.

Word of warning, this monitor has a GLOSSY face which means if you're wearing a bright shirt and watching / doing something that is dark on the screen you'll see yourself perfectly in it. When a darker screen is up this monitor acts like a mirror. I'll post a picture of it.

This is a crisp, bright and beautiful monitor. The colors or rich and it is easy on the eyes. If you're thinking about getting an IPS wide screen, you should totally go for it.

I'm a software developer so I sit in front of a monitor for many hours per day. In a wide screen, I was looking for the ability to see multiple columns of code open at once. This monitor comfortably fits two. I can also do other tasks like have a debugging window and whatever I'm working on side by side. I don't even use a second monitor anymore!

I was very satisfied with this monitor except for one thing. I wanted to also get an ergotron adjustable desk bracket so I could stand or sit while working. This would require a monitor that follows the VESA mounting standard - which this monitor did not, so I sent it back.

So - if you don't have plans to mount this on anything, this is an absolutely fantastic monitor. I wish I could've mounted it because I'm not as happy with the monoprice monitor I replaced it with.

I'm giving 4 stars to start with as I just received this monitor today. Easy setup, great looking screen. HD video (Blu-Ray) content looks great so far, pictures are clear and crisp, text is clean and clear.

It is a glossy screen, so you will see reflections in brighter light, however I'm not seeing a huge issue with this so far.

I had originally bought a ASUS VN247H-P but after 15 mins of using it, it had 2 dead pixels. So I returned it. I chose to get this after getting recommendations from various sites. I'm so happy with this monitor. It looks beautiful and I should have chosen this one from the get go. I use it for console gaming right now and there isn't any input lag at all. Everything runs smooth on driving, FPS, and other fast paced games. The only thing that I wish it had was VESA mounts. I don't use them but for people who would want a multi display setup, that feature would be very useful. I highly recommend this to someone looking for a beautiful IPS display.

I decided to purchase 3 of these glossy 1080p monitors instead of an apple cinema display. I'm so glad I did, not only are 3 of these monitors $400 cheaper, but you get so much more screen area for applications. Games seem to be much more realistic on this glossy screen than the matte screen that I used to have of the same size, its harder to see the pixels, and the colors pop off the screen. Don't rate this product low because the image doesn't go all the way to the edge of the monitor, you should already know that before you buy it. I can say that these are still better for multi-screen gaming and multitasking than almost all other monitors I've looked at because even thought the image doesn't go all the way to the edge, it's still very close to the edge. The fake brushed aluminum (plastic) base and bottom frame looks great, you get the look of brushed aluminum, but without fingerprints. I recommend this monitor to everyone, its just perfect. The only bad thing about this monitor would be that it doesn't have mounting holes on the back, but again, you should know this prior to buying. It has VGA, DVI, and HDMI connections. And I must say, the first game I played on this monitor was Crysis 1 maxed settings, and WOW, it was like a different game compared to my old matte 23" 1080p screen, just amazing with glossy finish. I also wish the power button on the lower right corner was placed right under the acer logo on the center of the frame not only making it easier to locate, but being right where the support arm is, the monitor will remain completly still when being turned on or off. The acer logo looks great too, cant really see it without looking hard, its black and blends in well with the frame.

The display itself is 5 stars. Even using just the VGA connector, the colors and images are phenomenal. You really have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate it's clarity and sharpness. Everything just pops out at you. I put this next to my 24" Samsung SyncMaster B2430 and the colors are more vibrant and clear. The only thing that the Samsang was better at was that text was a tad bit sharper. And that's because the Samsung had more picture controls to tweak (the most useful one being Sharpness, which this Acer does not have...it has a 'Focus' setting that doesn't quite do the job in making text more clear).

This display is glossy, so it's more prone to reflections. I actually prefer glossy over matte. I'll sacrifice a bit of reflection for more pop to my images any day.

The reason I gave this monitor 4 stars is this. Acer advertises this display as 'frameless', or having a 0.08 inch bezel. If you go to Acer's website, you will even see that in one of the pictures displaying this model, the bezel is extremely thin, with the image on the screen appearing to cover the entire screen. HOWEVER, THIS DISPLAY IS NOT FRAMELESS. The problem is that the display does not stretch all the way to the edge of the screen. There is still a half an inch 'frame' around the display. So yes, the bezel measures 0.08 inch thick, and is almost frameless, but there is still a good half inch frame around the display because the it doesn't stretch all the way to the edge. It's a bit misleading.

The Acer website doesn't mention it but it does come with built-in downward firing speakers. Not great by any means, but nice to have. It also came with an HDMI cable. BUT the audio does not pass through from the HDMI to the speakers. I tried playing a video from my laptop to the monitor, and there's no audio (same cable plugged into my tv and audio plays ok). I had to output the audio from my laptop's headphone jack and input it into the back of the monitor to get audio for HDMI.

Overall, a great monitor. I would have given it 5 stars if it was truly `frameless'.